This one should be interesting...

This is a discussion on This one should be interesting... within the In the News: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly forums, part of the The Back Porch category; At the time of the shooting Whitton claimed that he felt threatened by Butcher. Whitton was in his car. Butcher was on a golf cart. ...

This one should be interesting...

At the time of the shooting Whitton claimed that he felt threatened by Butcher. Whitton was in his car. Butcher was on a golf cart. (Tellico Village is a fairly upscale retirement community on the lake)

This shooting took place two years before the Zimmerman incident and is just now coming to trial.

At the time of the shooting Whitton claimed that he felt threatened by Butcher. Whitton was in his car. Butcher was on a golf cart. (Tellico Village is a fairly upscale retirement community on the lake)

This shooting took place two years before the Zimmerman incident and is just now coming to trial.

A self-defense claim could be made in Tennessee. The law, passed in 2007, allows for stand your ground though the definition of vehicle may be hard to overcome.

While the law allows for "stand your ground", it's going to be difficult for the defense to argue that their client, while seated in an automobile, felt that his life was endangered by an unarmed individual on a golf cart.

Possibly. The deputy who responded to the shooting testified that he didn't believe Whitton's story. I assumed that testimony would sink the case for self defense, but apparently not. One thing that's interesting is that this case took over two years to finally get to trial. Time usually works in your favor if you're on trial. Witnesses move or die, police officers retire or leave the force, and memories fade.